closure
by sleepless-royalty
Summary: She's twenty and he should be twenty-one. She's at his grave, tiger lilies in hand—and then she sees him. Twenty-one and laughing with a girl she had never seen before in her life.
**Hello, minna! Just a random idea that has been in my head for a while now. The birthdays is made-up. *magic swooshing noise SFX***

 **Disclaimer: all rights to their respectful owners.**

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 _"She's twenty and he should be twenty-one. She's at his grave, tiger lilies in hand—and then she sees him. Twenty-one and laughing with a girl she had never seen before in her life."_

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Walking out of the guild, she somberly remembers that it's August 21st, and that she's twenty and he should be turning twenty-one today. The guild is quiet in respect because—believe it or not—they all loved him.

Elfman gives her a dejected look because he knows it's his fault he's dead and she's inclined to agree—but she gives him a reassuring smile because she's her and she needs to be sweet and kind and forgiving because no one else will. The middle Strauss sibling only hangs his head morosely in response, shaking, and she knows he's crying. Mirajane rolls her eyes to hold back the tears and punches her little brother lightly in the shoulder, muttering about "manning up" and waves as the younger girl leaves.

She exits the guild hall flanked by Erza and Gray, the three being the closest to him when he was alive—even though, back then, the redhead and the ice Mage never would have admitted it. He never had a team, but if he had, he would've had one with those three. That's what everyone says, that's what everyone believes.

Gray's holding a torch with a frozen flame, making it look like a beautifully sculpted and very unique flower, as though it were frozen as the wind blew through its petals. How he managed to freeze a flame, she'll never know. Erza is clutching a letter stained with tears—as she always did every single year—and she's shaking, because she loved him as though he were her brother and it hurt every time the next year rolled by. When he should've gotten older, only he didn't, for he is now but a rotting corpse, destined to be nothing but.

She has tiger lilies in her hand, and she's forcing the tears back. Instead, she attempted to focus on the delicate curve of the neon orange petals, how the color softly faded into a tangerine-tinged yellow, how it was flecked with an inconsistent amount of reddish purple—no, magenta.

They're all hurting. She knows what he'd say:

"Come on, guys! Don't look so down. Just because I'm dead doesn't mean you should act like you are! That's just disrespectful to the adventure that is death, and me, too! I'll meet you guys later, just don't stop living."

She wants to sob that it's not as easy as he's making it sound—that she can't go on without his fanged smile, his fiery attitude, his love for fighting, and his pyromaniac tendencies. She misses his energy, the warmth of his hand, the fire in his eyes.

Nothing is the same anymore—not without him, the idiot.

"We're here," Erza says, gently pushing her shoulder, pulling her out of her reverie.

"Hey, flame-for-brains," Gray mutters, shoving the handle of the torch in front of the tombstone. He turns away, but the other two can see the tears in his eyes. "It's not like I miss you or anything—the guild's a whole lot more quiet without you, that's for sure. But…I kinda miss all of our brawls."

Erza smiles softly, before she gently slides her letter underneath the dirt in front of his grave, letting it disappear from sight. "I miss you, Natsu," is all the redhead states.

She watches Gray and Erza with a sort of wry amusement to mask all of the inner turmoil she is facing inside. She has so much to say to him, but she isn't sure if she can pour out her heart and soul in front of the ice make and requip mages she calls her companions.

Her eyes sting with tears because she's twenty and he should be twenty-one. She's at his grave, tiger lilies in hand—and then she sees him. Hears him, is a more accurate description. Undoubtedly that's him; he is—was—the only male in Fiore that had ever set foot in Magnolia with pink hair.

(That might be an exaggeration, but she thought it to be almost true.)

There he is, onyx eyes wide and lips stretched into a toothy smile. Twenty-one and laughing with a girl she had never seen before in her life.

She feels her world spinning and collapsing in on itself. _He's alive? Why didn't he come back? Were we not good enough for him?_

The world around her blurs, and she can vaguely hear Gray and Erza calling her name, "Lisanna! Lisanna!" All too soon, she feels his warm hands grasping her wrist, and the blonde he is with is staring at her with wide eyes and a concerned expression.

"N…Natsu," Lisanna murmurs, not quite comprehending the whole situation and blinking back tears. "You're…you're really here."

He looks at her with a guilty expression, "Not really. Not in the way you think."

Erza's eyes are brimming with tears, but Gray looks furious. Beyond furious, he looks absolutely livid.

"What the hell, Natsu?" he shouts, his fists clenched and his stance prepared for a fight. "We thought you were dead for _six years._ And it turns out you're not, you just haven't come back. And for what? Some random chick who I bet doesn't know the difference between a real magic and some po – "

Then Gray's cradling his bruising cheek and Natsu's glaring at him, his fire not as gentle and kind as it had been before.

"God, and they say I'm the impulsive one," he mutters, and Lisanna breathes a laugh in a feeble attempt to defuse the tension. Louder, he adds, his voice an intense whisper, "You can yell at me and fight me all you want, Ice Princess, but don't you ever bring Lucy into this. You hear?"

Erza stares in astonishment, Gray's nursing his cheek while mulling over the words in subtle surprise, and Lisanna finds herself staring at the blonde—Lucy, she supposes—in envy. If only Natsu had ever gotten that riled up for her sake. Lucy curls her hand over his right bicep, a fond mumble of "down, boy," escaping her lips. Lisanna is surprised to see a pink Fairy Tail insignia stamped on it, wondering when the hell had this girl been a part Fairy Tail?

The blonde takes her free hand, gently opening Natsu's left fist and twining her fingers with his. The tenseness in Natsu's stance relaxes, much to the trio's shock.

"Calm," she murmurs, giggling slightly. She glances up at them, "I'm sorry about this moron. He tends to do before he thinks."

"We know," Erza replies drily, hastily getting over her shock at this stranger calming down Natsu when he is all fired up. "I'm Erza. This idiot is Gray," she jabs her thumb in his direction before nodding at Lisanna. "She's Lisanna. Lucy, I presume?"

Lucy nods politely, releasing her grip on Natsu to stand beside him instead of behind. Lisanna is astounded at how immodest her clothes are—all short skirts and crop tops and high heels. A whip is hooked onto her belt, as well as a strange array of keys of gold and silver.

"Yes," she confirms. "I apologize for inconveniencing you all. We're…we're not from this world, exactly."

"Whaddya mean by that?" Gray crosses his arms, huffing in indignation.

"'S hard to explain," Natsu 'harrumph's, unwittingly mimicking the ice make mage.

Lucy slaps him lightly on the shoulder, "No, it's not, and you know it isn't. I distinctly remember a time when we were in a similar situation and you climbed onto the bar and announced that you were from another world with concise detail."

"You weren't even there," Natsu retorts.

"Wendy explained it with vivid enough detail," Lucy deadpanns.

Lisanna watches their interaction as though it is a tennis match. How had this girl, who only seems to be able to rev him up, ever calmed Natsu Dragneel down?

Erza coughs, "We seemed to have strayed from the topic at hand. How is it that Natsu is alive?"

Lucy's cheeks are dusted pink while Natsu remains stubborn, refusing to speak. The duo have a quiet discussion—if one should even be able to call it that. It was more of a conversation with their eyes and facial expressions, a language that Lisanna had never thought that Natsu would be able to learn. Finally, Lucy sighs and Natsu gives her a smug grin. She rolls her eyes at him as he cackles.

Gray's brow is furrowed, thoroughly confused at the exchange, and Lisanna finds herself agreeing with the sentiment. Erza, however, remains cool and collected, waiting for one or the other to speak.

Lucy opens her mouth, her lips forming words but not speaking them out loud. Natsu arches an eyebrow and her face burns red.

She attempts to speak, but all that comes out is, "Anima—Mystogan—Earthland—Lisanna dies, not Natsu."

Lisanna blinks at the mention of her name—the cryptic phrase not registering into her brain at all. Gray swallows. Erza seems perplexed. Natsu is much less tactful in response. He busts out into laughter, smirking at her expression that was growing angrier by the second. She opens her mouth, ready to blow, before forcing it closed and taking deep breaths. She yanks him up by the ear, hissing something quietly to him.

Finally, he nods and sighs, turning to the trio, "We're from another version of Earthland, one where thinks that Lisanna dies on her S-class mission with Elfman and Mira. Even though she wasn't really dead. We came here because it had something to do with Lucy's celestial magic, a message from Mystogan—you know, Mystogan, right?—and we were sent through a portal called an anima. Is that a good enough explanation?"

Erza, Gray, and Lisanna all nod, looking crestfallen at the fact that he wasn't, in fact, their Natsu. The Natsu they all missed and loved dearly. A small bleeping noise emitted from Lucy's back pocket. The blonde pulls out a strange contraption reminiscent of a book only made of metal with energy similar to a lacrima. She flips it open, and skims over…whatever she is staring at.

Her jaw drops and she looks terrifying—and Lisanna suddenly realizes why Natsu listens to her, she was downright scary when she was angered.

"Come on, Natsu," she growls. "It turns out we were sent to the the wrong world. We gotta find Wendy, Erza, and Gray now."

The two are just about to leave when Lisanna stops them—much to the confusion of Gray and Erza.

"Wait," she calls, and they turn around with perplexed expressions adorning their features. "So…if Natsu hadn't gone on the mission with Mira-née, Elf-nii-chan, and I, he would've lived and I would have met you, right, Lucy?"

"Not for a couple years," Natsu answers in the celestial mage's place. "But yeah. Basically."

"O-oh," Lisanna stammers, not sure where she's going with the whole interrogation. "H-how strong is your relationship?"

Natsu and Lucy's eyes flick over to each other, eyes filled with wry amusement and a certain affection Lisanna had never seen in Natsu's eyes when he was alive.

After a long pause, Natsu says, "She's the person I trust most in the world—no, the universe."

Oh, is all Lisanna thinks. Her chest tightens, and then she relaxes. It is an indirect rejection, she knows that the pair knows as well, but it doesn't hurt as much as she thought it would. It's as if a weight, a burden, that she has been carrying for the past six years has been lifted. The fact that she doesn't—or rather, didn't—know whether he would accept and reciprocate or reject her feelings for him had been something she carried with her wherever she went. Now, she knows exactly what he felt before he died—it doesn't even matter that it was the latter, it still is a confirmation. It seems that after all of this time, Lisanna Strauss has closure.

The tension dissipates, and Lisanna smiles, "That's awesome." She winks, "Make sure my other self is a bridesmaid at the wedding, 'kay?"

Lucy and Natsu—that seems to just roll off the tongue, doesn't it?—blush and stutter excuses like, "we're not dating" and "wedding, how did you get that idea?" All Lisanna does in response is grin, and drag Gray and Erza away from the cemetery.

"Those two are cute, aren't they?" Lisanna beams.

"Yes," Erza murmurs.

"It's nice to know that, even if he isn't our Natsu, he's happy somewhere else," Gray states softly.

The ice make, the requip, and the takeover mage walk back to the guildhall, true smiles tugging at their lips for the first time in six years.

(Later, they are asked why they are so cheerful after visiting Natsu's grave.

All they get in response is, "He's happy now.")

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 _ **Fin.**_

 **(Not beta-ed or proofread.)**

 **I hope you enjoyed!**


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